


It's Not the Fall

by GrayceAdamsArchive



Series: The World Does (not) Revolve Around Perrin Fletcher [6]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Across the 2nd Dimension, Human AU, M/M, Violence, human!perry, human!perry the platypus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 08:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6147364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrayceAdamsArchive/pseuds/GrayceAdamsArchive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Well obviously YOU did not have to deal with MY nemesis, Perry the Platypus!"</p><p>"Oh didn't I?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> _“It's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stop at the end.”― Douglas Adams_

When Perry Fletcher fell for his nemesis, he sparked the fall of O.W.C.A. as well, though in a different sense.

While Perry fell in love, O.W.C.A. fell in flames.

“He’s too dangerous,” Monogram insisted from the monitor in Perry’s lair, pointing a stern finger at the agent sitting in his chair, who just shook his head. “Agent P! He is building an army of robots capable of wiping out O.W.C.A.! You must eliminate him, no exceptions. He is too dangerous to be allowed to live. You’ve been given your Red Hat for a reason, now put it to use!” Perry stared at the monitor when it winked off, raising one hand to touch the brim of his dark red fedora.

Red for Field, Red for sacrifice, for courage, for strength.

Red for blood.

Perry buried his face in his hands, pressing his fingers into his eyes. He’d killed before, in kill-or-be-killed situations. He’d never even considered killing Doofenshmirtz, though. In the years they’d been nemeses, it’d never once occurred to Perry to  _ kill  _ the man, no matter how dangerous his schemes were. And this was the first time O.W.C.A. had been forced to order Perry to use the…  _ privilege  _ his Red hat granted him, his license to kill at his discretion, to eliminate threats to protect the greater good. And Doofenshmirtz definitely was not the greater good in this scenario. He was the threat.

An army capable of wiping out O.W.C.A.

Perry knew Doofenshmirtz had been working on something big for weeks, months even, tweaking the blueprints when Perry showed up to thwart his smaller schemes, bits and pieces of it laying around as he started putting it together around quicker projects. Perry had let it happen, since he and Doofenshmirtz had a deal. If Perry agreed to no premature thwarting, Doofenshmirtz would refrain from scheming at night, so that Perry could get some actual sleep once in awhile.

But an army?

Perry knew Doofenshmirtz wanted to take over the Tri-State area, the world, even, but an  _ army?  _ It didn’t seem possible. Doofenshmirtz could be spiteful and vicious when he perceived himself wronged, but Perry didn’t think the man would actually ever attempt a coup d’etat of that sort.

Still, if Doofenshmirtz was building an army, Perry had to stop him. He didn’t want to kill him, though. The thought alone made Perry’s heart twist unpleasantly, enough to make him pause as he was climbing into his rocket car. He didn’t want to kill Doofenshmirtz. He wasn’t even sure he  _ could,  _ despite the Red hat on his head. But he’d thwarted Doofenshmirtz thousands of times before without fail. This time would be no different, army or no.

It was different.

Perry had tried everything, but the robots were too many, and he was scrambling just to not get shot or sliced in half, and there was no STOP button on the machine assembling them faster than he could smash them. Doofenshmirtz was laughing his ass off on a platform on the machine, gleefully watching Perry dodge and scamper his way around his lair, smashing in a couple of robots as he went but not nearly fast enough to get away from them all.

“Look at you  _ go _ !” Doofenshmirtz cackled, pointing at him and running his other hand up over his eyepatch and into his hair. “I’ve never  _ seen  _ you move so fast. I should have done this  _ years  _ ago!” Perry growled and ran straight at a wall, jumping to kick up it a few feet and then flip backwards over the Normbot pursuing him, making it crash into the brick and explode. Perry landed in a crouch and whirled straight around, knowing that if he stopped moving he’d likely be shot by a laser cannon from one of the other countless robots swarming the lair.

Running for the machine producing the robots, Perry used one hand to twist his watch into Emergency Mode. There was no way he was going to win this on his own; he needed back up. The screen of his watch blinked red as it broadcasted a distress signal to O.W.C.A. H.Q. and the flashes of red light flickered shadows over Doofenshmirtz’s black and purple lair.

“ _ Oohhh _ , calling some  _ friends _ , are you? Don’t  _ bother _ , I’ve more than enough robots to take you all,” Doofenshmirtz said, leaning on the rail and propping his chin in one hand. Waving the other hand lazily, Doofenshmirtz smirked, “I can’t believe you let me get this far, you know. I thought for  _ sure  _ you’d break our deal. That’s what any  _ good  _ agent would have done. Who needs  _ sleep  _ when there are people to protect from awful old  _ me _ ?” Perry snarled and dropped into a baseball slide, shooting under a Normbot and avoiding the blade spinning towards him from its left arm. Rolling to his feet again, Perry reached the machine and took the stairs up to Doofenshmirtz’s platform three at a time, ducking as a robot zoomed past him, swiping at his head with a machete-like hand.

“Now what did you come up  _ here  _ for?” Doofenshmirtz complained as he pushed off the rail to avoid Perry lunging at him. “All the fun’s down  _ there  _ with Norm.”

“PLEASE HOLD STILL SO THAT YOU MIGHT BE ELIMINATED,” one of the Normbots insisted, hovering over the platform between Perry and Doofenshmirtz. Perry growled and dodged the laser blast it sent at him, rolling underneath it and shoving a fist through the thin metal plating on the outside and ripping out a handful of wires. The Normbot swerved suddenly, crashing into a few of its fellows and then exploding in midair.

Doofenshmirtz cackled when Perry spun back to his feet, advancing on him and swinging for his face. Doofenshmirtz dodged and then swung an uppercut straight into Perry’s gut, making him wheeze. Perry whirled and landed a heel kick in the back of Doofenshmirtz’s knee, making him cry out and stagger. Perry kept spinning, fisting his hands together to land a hammer blow on Doofenshmirtz’s back, knocking him to the ground. Perry dodged another laser blast and landed on top of Doofenshmirtz when he rolled over, pinning him.

Grunting, Doofenshmirtz bucked his hips and thrashed under Perry, teeth set in a snarl, but Perry held him down, snatching his hat off his head and reaching inside to spin the flat felt panel in the top until it popped open.

Inside was the only deadly weapon Perry owned, a pistol as long as his hand and used only twice. Doofenshmirtz’s eyes widened when Perry jammed his hat back on his head and pointed the barrel of the gun in his face, between his one eye and the patch that covered the other. Blinking as he looked between the gun and Perry’s face, Doofenshmirtz’s mouth stretched into a humorless grin.

“They finally told you to  _ kill  _ me, didn’t they?” he said,throwing back his head against the ground and barking out a laugh. “Man, I’ve been waiting  _ months  _ for this, I almost thought you were  _ ignor _ ing them or something.” Perry scowled, trying not to let on that Doofenshmirtz was right. It wasn’t the first time O.W.C.A. had insisted Doofenshmirtz was too dangerous to live, but it was the first time Perry had been pushed into drawing his gun.

“So are you going to  _ shoot  _ me then,  _ Per _ ry the  _ Pla _ typus?” Doofenshmirtz demanded, lifting his head so the barrel of the gun nudged against his forehead. “Blow my  _ brains  _ out? You’ve killed before, I know, because I checked. Peter the  _ Panda _ ’s not the only one who can hack into a com _ puter _ . This should be no problem. So do it. Put me out of my misery! Save the world! Do what you do  _ best _ . For the greater  _ good _ , am I right?” Heinz cackled when Perry just stared, a cold trickle running down his spine.

For the greater good. For the cause. For the agency, the innocent, the helpless. Perry had heard it all before, the justification of the blood on his hands. It was all for the Greater Good.

Perry knew better. He’d only ever killed because he hadn’t been given a choice. It was kill, or let someone he loved die. Kill, or die himself. So he killed.

And no matter how much he washed, the blood never came out.

“What are you  _ waiting  _ for?” Doofenshmirtz asked after a second, blinking at him, brow furrowing. “Really, this is just starting to get  _ te _ dious, and you’re putting my legs to sleep.”

Perry blinked, shaken out of his momentary stupor and steeled himself, thumbing the hammer back and pressing the pistol against Doofenshmirtz’s forehead. It wouldn’t do to miss. Doofenshmirtz barely noticed, shifting his hips and grunting.

“ _ Man _ , I’ve got pins and  _ nee _ dles, those are the  _ worst _ ,” he complained, grimacing. Perry stared, fingers starting to shake a bit as he tried to tell them to just  _ squeeze.  _ Heinz blinked slowly, eyes sliding shut and back open again as he looked up at Perry, the tiniest hint of fear appearing in the back of his eyes.

“It’s okay,” Doofenshmirtz said after a second. “I knew this would happen  _ one  _ day, Perry the Platypus.”

Perry swallowed, gritted his teeth, and tightened his grip on the gun.

And then it clattered to the ground a moment later, cast aside like it had bitten him. Doofenshmirtz jumped as Perry covered his face with his hands, biting back a sob.

“I cannae do it,” Perry gasped. “I cannae kill ye.” Doofenshmirtz laid frozen under Perry for a moment, and Perry shuddered, knowing that he’d just doomed everyone he cared about by failing to thwart Doofenshmirtz. O.W.C.A. would fall to the army of robots still being produced by the machine, and Doofenshmirtz would begin his conquest. All because Perry couldn’t kill him.

Doofenshmirtz shoved at Perry suddenly, sending him sprawling back. Doofenshmirtz scrambled to his feet, a wide grin plastered across his face, a hint of madness in his eyes.

“You couldn’t  _ shoot  _ me,” he said, pointing at Perry and leaning heavily on the rail. “You couldn’t kill me. You  _ wouldn’t  _ kill me!” Perry sat up, scrambling back from Doofenshmirtz on his hands as the man advanced on him, still grinning.

“You  _ lost _ ,” Doofenshmirtz hissed, leaning in close when Perry hit the edge of the platform and had nowhere to go. Perry stared as Doofenshmirtz leered, reaching out to snatch the fedora off Perry’s head. “Won’t be needing  _ this  _ anymore,” he said, tossing it aside and grabbing Perry’s tie and hauling him forward. “You’re  _ mine  _ now. Norm! Put him away somewhere he won’t be able to get  _ out  _ of. Somewhere he can  _ breathe,  _ mind you, I don’t want him dead. Not yet, at least.”

Perry snarled and jerked against Doofenshmirtz’s hold, swinging a punch at his head. Doofenshmirtz ducked out of the way and laughed, lashing out with a kick that caught Perry in the chest and sent him flying backwards until two Normbots locked their hands around his arms. No matter how he struggled he couldn’t break free of their grip and he panicked a bit when one of them locked their fist around his throat.

“Don’t  _ strangle _ him!” Doofenshmirtz snapped. “Keep him alive.” He sauntered forward, rubbing his gloved hands together in muted delight, a sly smile snaking across his mouth. Perry felt a shiver of fear work its way down his spine, and he leaned as far away as he could as Doofenshmirtz loomed over him, bringing his lips close to Perry’s ear as he gripped Perry’s chin between his fingers.

“I am  _ so  _ going to enjoy  _ break _ ing you,” Doofenshmirtz murmured before pulling away, tilting Perry’s head this way and that before letting go and grinning. “Take him away. Don’t forget to keep him  _ alive _ , I may be busy for a while securing my hold over the Tri-State area. I’ll see you later, Perry the Platypus.” Doofenshmirtz turned away with a jaunty wave, and Perry let out a twisted cry of panic as the Normbots started dragging him away, lifting him off the ground when he tried to dig his heels in.

All the agents at O.W.C.A. His coworkers, his friends. His  _ family _ . All in danger, all about to be killed or injured or enslaved, all because of him. All because Perry couldn’t bring himself to kill the man he loved, even though he’d  _ known  _ what would happen if he failed, what the consequences of his actions were, the responsibility that was laid on him. 

Perry had failed, he’d fallen in love, and he’d probably doomed everyone he’d ever known and cared about to death or worse in the process. 

 


End file.
